Tough time for Wanganui sides

Wanganui teams had a weekend to forget in the first round of the Manawatu-Wanganui men's hockey competition, with both TCOB and Rangers losing to stronger sides on Saturday.

Langley Atkinson, who coaches both sides, said TCOB was beaten 2-1 by the Palmerston North High School Club, while the young and inexperienced Rangers team lost 3-0 to College of Palmerston North. Both were away games. "The TCOB game was a tight match and probably deserved to be a draw, really. A new rule covering own goals from shots from outside the circle caught us out. We were down 1-0 at the break and after the own goal ended up 2-1 down," Atkinson said.

"Rangers, which is very much a development team with a mix of Wanganui Collegiate and Wanganui High School players, was simply outplayed by College. But to be fair, Rangers went down with no subs and five debutantes, so actually played reasonably well given the circumstances."

The Manawatu-Wanganui club championship is played over two rounds (16 weeks) with eight teams competing. Meanwhile, the Wanganui representative side obviously felt the pain of the tight TCOB club match when facing a much fresher Manawatu in the Central Hockey League competition on Sunday.

"They [Manawatu] looked a lot fresher right from the start and we were simply outplayed. Our boys were feeling the effects of the club match the day before and lost 5-0," Atkinson said.

The rep competition is played among Wanganui, Taranaki, Hawkes Bay and Manawatu. The teams will also have to front up to another double-header weekend, with TCOB pitted against MCOB at Levin on Saturday, while Rangers face off against PNBH in Palmerston North, while the Wanganui rep side have a home game against Hawkes Bay on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the new-look Wanganui TCOB drew 2-2 with PNGH in the Manawatu-Wanganui women's division one club competition in Palmerston North on Saturday.

Coach Ian Glenny said his side was up 2-0 at the break after two penalty corners, but a younger, fit Palmerston North Girls' High team came back fighting in the second spell to even the score with two field goals.

"Our team is a mix of young and older women and many who haven't played hockey before, so it was a good effort. The first game of round one was originally set down for April 20, but was brought forward to April 6. It probably suited us to get that game out of the way sooner, rather than later, and this weekend we have a home game against Wanganui Collegians, who had a bye last Saturday," Glenny said.